Today is the last day of travel – tomorrow I start walking the Camino Frances route of the Camino de Santiago, starting at a small town of Saint Jean Pied de Port in southwestern France. Saint Jean Pied de Port is a convergence point of three or four ancient routes through France and has become a very popular starting point for the route on the Camino de Santiago called the Camino Frances. The Camino Frances first goes over the Pyrenees Mountains to Roncevalles just over the border into Spain, then on to Pamplona, Logroño, Burgos, across the meseta, Lèon, Sarria, and finally to Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain.

To get from Paris to Saint Jean Pied de Port, I took two trains. The first was from the Monparnasse train station in Paris (Gare Montparnasse), a TGV, which rode quite smoothly even at over 260 kilometers per hour (160 miles per hour).

This is the parking entrance to Gare Montparnasse. I did not get picture of the train – it was too dark and I was in too big of a hurry to make sure I did not miss the train.

While in Chiang Mai, Thailand two winters ago, I met Tom Dickson from Sydney, Australia after a yoga class at Wild Rose Yoga. He and I have remained friends, and Tom expressed some interest in walking the Camino. When my plans changed to make the pilgrimage in September, he wanted to join me. After some coordination, I met Tom at Gare Montparnasse, and we road the same train for the three-and-a-half hour trip south from Paris to Bayonne. The TGV has assigned and reserved seats, and Tom and I were in different cars. We met again on the platform at Bayonne, and bought tickets for the local train for the one-hour trip from Bayonne to Saint Jean Pied de Port.

Tom had met a fellow pilgrim on the train, Joe from South Korea. The three of us found a restaurant for lunch and waited for the last part of the journey to Saint Jean.

Finally, we are in Saint Jean Pied de Port.

We made our way to the Camino de Santiago pilgrim’s office where we got our first stamp in our credential. Then we each found our respective places to stay for the night. I am back in Ramuntcho, a small hotel on the main street of the old part of Saint Jean Pied de Port, very close to the pilgrim’s office.

When I walked the Camino 17 months ago, I noticed in many towns, the way-markers set into the stone sidewalk or road, or something similar. The Camino way-markers are quite varied, but they are obviously markers for the Camino, almost always depicting the graphical scallop shell. I saw this in the small street in Saint Jean: 

And I saw this above the entrance to a store:

I enjoy seeing the markers, and will share many pictures of them along the way to Santiago de Compostela and on to Finiserre,

After sharing dinner, Joe went to his albergue (hostal), Tom to his hotel, and I to mine. Tom and I will meet tomorrow morning and make the difficult walk over the mountains tomorrow morning. We hope to see Joe along the way – he is starting earlier than Tom and I.

Next: Over the Pyrenees to Roncesvalles and into Spain